Cyclone Alana

I hope everyone in the path of Cyclone Alfred is safe and well.

We are living in crazy climate-challenged times.

I was packing for a cruise from Auckland to Brisbane when the news broke that the city had been issued with its first cyclone warning in 35 years …

The universe must have overheard that I was coming.

The closest a cyclone previously came to the Queensland capital was in 1990, when Tropical Cyclone Nancy tracked erratically towards the city then made a southward turn just off the coastline and never reached landfall.

Tropical Cyclone Wanda, the cause of Brisbane’s terrible 1974 floods – crossed the coast further north, near K’gari and Hervey Bay. A severe tropical cyclone also crossed the coast near Tweed Heads in 1954.

But the odds of a cyclone heading so far south are very, very, very low.

I hadn’t factored cyclone risks into the timing of my cruise, but I was not surprised when the warnings started arriving.

I have learned over the years to expect the unexpected.

DD and I worked from our Auckland hotel room on Wednesday, then went down to the harbour in the evening for dinner with DD’s cousins who are visiting from Newfoundland and fancied the idea of arriving in Australia with us by sea aboard the Scenic Eclipse II.

As you may recall I was very dirty with Scenic for changing the cruise itinerary on us and substituting Norfolk Island and Lady Musgrave Island for Brisbane and Airlie Beach.

Very not acceptable when I’d booked an expedition cruise, not a bloody capital city and busy tourism town cruise.

But we did get a very good deal on our cabin, as it’s a bit of a “repositioning” cruise to get the ship from New Zealand to Indonesia.

And it was too hard to cancel the trip, due to DD’s cousins having already booked all their arrangements to meet us and the extensive fine print in the cruise contract.

So I found myself sipping Champagne in the main bar of the ship last Thursday while waiting to be escorted to a cabin way bigger than our hotel room.

Then we swanned out on deck for pink Champagne as the ship sailed, while the tug boat driver did donuts for our entertainment.

I expect you’re having trouble feeling sorry for me at this stage …

Scenic Eclipse is very flashy and can carry a maximum of about 220 passengers – there are around 180 on our cruise. There are spacious pubic areas and a wide selection of bars and restaurants on board, serving cuisines ranging from French to Japanese.

There are also more mainstream offerings such as burgers and pizzas, plus you can order favourites like smashed avo on toast for brekkie.

We sat down to dinner on the first night at the Italian-influenced Elements restaurant, where we dined on grilled scallops, then went to the main bar and ordered Old Fashioneds for dessert.

Noice. I am very pleased with my arty cocktail photo.

Day two involved learning how to paddle a Māori war canoe in the Bay of Islands. The experience was hosted by Taiamai Tours and took us up the Waitangi River to a waterfall.

It occurred to me about 10 minutes into the paddling that it perhaps wasn’t the best choice of excursion for someone with an inflamed disc, but by that time I was in the middle of the river so had no choice but to “paddle, tap, paddle, tap, paddle tap” for about an hour.

Hone Mihaka, the proud founder and owner of Taiamai Tours, also runs a rehabilitation program with former addicts and prisoners to help them reconnect to their culture and employs them to help him out on the excursions.

The tour featured explanations of the history and traditions of the region and also about the struggles the Māori people have encountered since explorers arrived in the area.

It was stunning to sail out of the Bay of Islands in the late afternoon as we settled in for three nights at sea without the Norfolk Island excursion in the middle to break up the sea days. Fume.

However, we have indulged in lots of on-board activities including watching beautiful sunrises and going to stretch classes, bliss yoga, wine appreciation sessions and eating lots and lots of food.

I’ll come back to you after Cyclone Alana makes landfall in Brisbane and wends her way up the Queensland coast.

Song of the day: Crowded House “Weather with you” (David’s cousins have never heard of Crowded House, WTF!)